Humming to herself softly, Dara opened the windows of her apartment, inhaling the cool morning air. As expected of a young professional that's determined to be on the path to success, she's an early riser. Hot water was boiling in preparation for her cup of morning coffee, the radio was playing the morning news, and it was finally Friday. Everything was right with the world. Nothing can go wrong.

Just as Dara was thinking that today was the day she can finally indulge in a meditation session before getting ready for work, a chime came from her phone to indicate a new email sent to her work inbox. Then another. Then another. Then another. Confused, Dara checked the time on her clock. It's 6AM. Then, she looked at her planner. No deadlines or important meetings coming up. No missed calls, so it can't be a marketing or operations crisis either.

Dara gritted her teeth at the thought of the one person she knows is most likely to be responsible for bombarding her inbox this early in the morning with the sole purpose of annoying her. She recently read a book on productivity, efficiency and the importance of limiting time spent on unnecessary tasks, such as checking emails every minute of the day, so she was trying to incorporate that into her work. She had announced to people she was working with that she would be cutting down on the time she spent reading emails, and obviously, someone was trying to test her new resolution.

Resisting the urge to give in and read the emails immediately, Dara reminded herself to take a deep breath and take back control of her morning. She loved her job at Young & Gilson Publishing House as she's been passionate about books and reading all her life, but she also recognized that she's been devoting too much, if not all, of her life to it that she has nothing left but work. The first thing she does when she wakes up and the last thing she does before going to bed is check her emails. She has been so caught up with her never-ending list of tasks that she hasn’t taken any trips or even visit her family for over two years. Since the merger of Young Publishing House, where she had worked since graduation, with another publishing house to avoid bankruptcy, she had been working overtime, on weekends, on holidays. She almost forgot what it was like to have a personal life.

Yet another email notification.

“Morning, Dara! What’s up?”

Controlling the rage burning inside of her, Dara forced a smile onto her face as she stopped to greet the receptionist, Minzy. She has to constantly remind herself that, no matter how much dread and torture work can cause her, personal interactions are one of the things she values and want to continue treasuring at Young & Gilson. It is always worth the time to stop and interact positively with her co-workers. No meetings or deadlines are important enough to minimize spending time with people. “Good morning, Minzy! I am fantastic. Did you enjoy the movie premiere yesterday?”

“Oh, you remembered!” Minzy beamed, taking immense pride that Dara, one of the Vice Presidents of Young & Gilson, would remember such a trivial thing like her weekday evening plans. In the short time she’s worked as the receptionist there, she found Dara to be hard-working, intelligent but also humble and well-liked by everyone in the huge company. She takes the time to get to know every person, regardless of that person’s position. “You have such a sick memory! I guess that’s what it takes to work alongside the Dragon-“

The Dragon. Even in the midst of her own anger, Dara can never get over how fitting that nickname is for the other Vice President of Young & Gilson.

“-But yeah, the premiere was totally dope. I saw Liam Hemsworth and his new girl after the divorce from Miley. I’m literally living the whole entertainment news in real life without being a celebrity. I took so many Snaps, and all my friends back home are so jealous. Man, I love living in Los Angeles.”

“Don’t we all,” laughed Dara. Truth was, she hated living in Los Angeles. She grew up in the countryside, at the agricultural heart of California. Dara still remembered that, when she packed up all her stuff from her hometown and drove across the state for college, she cried for a good majority of that car ride. Years later, she still could not call this huge sprawling metropolitan her home. She hated the never-ending lanes of traffic, she hated the hustle of city life, she hated the entertainment industry (even though she still keeps up with the Kardashians occasionally) and she even hated the lack of rain in southern California that was one of the main reasons people move to LA for. If it wasn’t for the fact that all the high-paying jobs were in LA, she would’ve moved back home in a heartbeat. That, and the harsh reality that the only industry in her hometown was agriculture and she would never be able to find a job there.

“This is for you.” After waving hi to everyone she passed, Dara stopped by Lisa’s desk to drop off her favorite drink, caramel macchiato with four shots of espresso. Lisa’s swollen eyes widened at the unexpected surprise, and she stared speechlessly at Dara in confusion. “Just because. An early celebration for the weekend, Lisa.” Dara had overheard that Lisa was feeling homesick for Thailand and made it her personal mission to do a small act of kindness for Lisa without prying into her personal life.

“Thanks, Dara.” Lisa smiled, and Dara returned the gesture before making her way across the production department and opening the g